The Ceiling is Safe

As I mentioned in my previous post, there are two load bearing walls running the length of the house. So before we could do anything else, we needed to take care of the sagging 2×4 beam in the bedroom. It has been under supported for who knows how long. I set up a temporary wall to support the joists while I was working and then took put the remaining studs to clear the way across the entire room. I prepped a beam and installed the jack studs at either end to support it. Four of us attempted to lift the beam into place and found the existing beam to have a significant sag, which made it impossible to fit the beam into one end. We used a jack to at least get the beam to sit on the stud, but it would not go in all the way. Using two jacks and a cross piece, we jacked up the joists just enough to get the beam in and then let the ceiling fall down onto our brand new beam. It worked like a charm! The sag is gone and we no longer have to worry about the ceiling caving in one us as we sleep.